Should voting using a smartphone or a tablet be allowed?

0.phoneArena06 Nov 2012, 08:33posted on

The year is 2012. The number of people that own a smartphone, a tablet, or both, is steadily increasing. And that should come as no surprise as users can do so many things on them - surf the web, watch movies, manage their bank account, or even buy airplane tickets. At the same time, the said types of devices are becoming more and more affordable, thus allowing one to own one without that burning a hole through their wallet. Yet voting for president using a smartphone or a tablet is not an option. Why is that?...

If astronauts can vote from the international space station, and absentee ballots are counted, that come from all around the world, why not use this technology for the common man... Okay, if a iphone user can stand in line for a week, i see your point... But me, i have things to do in the meantime, i voted yes. 100% secure is nowhere to be found, even at the polling station. :/

Hell to the "No"!!! The last thing we need are sh€€p deciding Presidential Elections. Americans should vote the old fashioned way, even if they have to stand on-lines in freezing cold temperatures in the middle of blizzards or even if they have to 'row a boat' to get there!

Actually, I would be worried of all third party apps/malware in Android; I can see the platform being hack/manipulated to cheat during the elections. I love my SGNX, but there is no way going to use it to conduct sensitive business; totally for recreation use.

Eh? What? How does you Android phone get hacked? What are you lost in the woods somewhere? Unless you are installing apps not from the Play store, you aren't going to get hacked, and if you are one of those people who get those texting things from downloading those free porn things that is your damn fault. Android OS protects your phone from malicious code, but Android can't protect you from your lust of stupid things therefore compromising your phones security.

No way in hell should anyone be allowed to vote using tablets nor smartphones. Technology isn't to the point where you can be verified by your data stream and it be authenticated. Keep it the way it is. I'm still concerned by the use of Windows RT Surface being used in Virginia, this is no time to play around, do that for a mayoral election or something lesser, the office of president is too important to play around with.

14.Aeires (unregistered)

Electronic checks and balances will prevent that. With proper login identification and verification, electronic voting might even make it easier to control cheating.

There's also the amount of money that can be saved, there won't be as much need for voting stations all over the city if people can vote from where they are. Less staff, less payroll. And vote counts would be instantaneous, no longer waiting for precincts to send in their manually counted votes. Like I said, technology moves on.

No. I could see people voting on their phone and then showing up at the polls to vote again. I don't like the idea of "vote early, and vote often."

Even with early voting, there's concerns about the process of people showing up to early vote and showing up to the polls on election day. I know there are safeguards in place, but they don't always work either.

Sorry, but I am slightly offended at the thought that we Americans need to have this made so easy. Walking/driving to a polling place is to much work for us? Early voting isn't good enough- we need to be able to "text" it in?

I feel only those who do not care do not vote. I do not want those who do not care to vote. I do not want it any easier. There are millions of Americans who disagree with me- and I would happily go back into the military today to fight for the right for those who care enough to pay attention to disagree with me to vote. But the 40%-45% who vote now do it because they realize the privledge of it. They do it and have at least read up on issues and put some effort into it. I do not want my vote or anyone elses vote cancelled out by someone who just picked up their mobile device and mailed it in.

18.Aeires (unregistered)

Very naive stance. Just because people stand in line to vote doesn't mean they are well informed about the candidates. Last election was a perfect example, many people voted just so a certain ethnicity didn't get elected. I'd say it's a safe bet most people voting don't have a full picture of everything that is going on in regards to candidates, they vote for personal reasons and influences more than anything.

How does voting from a computer device make you any less informed about the candidates and issues? The methodology has absolutely nothing to do with the level of information each voter has acquired.

First off, I will be happy to show you the break down of President Obama's victory last election cycle. He won nearly every race, creed, and gender break down. Race has become less and less a factor. Interracial dating and marriages, minority representation in upper business and in both parties are up, and soon the largest minority will be white. Black, Hispanic and other minorities are growing to the point those who identify themselves as "white" will be less then 50%. And I say Thank the Lord our Maker. Diversity is a strength, and I will be very happy to see arguments like they voted against a race go away.

My point is that we have been afforded a chance to select our representatives. It is something so few on this Earth can do right now. Regardless of your political leanings, the less then half of Americans who vote now care. How much easier do we need to make it? There is already absentee voting for those out of Country, early voting for a period of time in every state, and special provisions for those physically unable to vote at a polling place. Show me serious need that is not being taken care of, and I am all in favor of supplying a means to vote. But Email it in? Text it? If you are talking NFC enabled polling places in which users can fill out a voting ballet and scan it at the polling place, cool. No sweat. I am onboard. But people need to at least care enough to put effort into it.

By no means do I believe every voter is casting a ballot without negativism driving a few. I will say I believe it is the vast minority. Most vote with their kids and their livelihood in mind.

24.Aeires (unregistered)

I have the unfortunate displeasure of working with a group of people who voted by issues of race alone. Just because Obama won doesn't mean it didn't happen. Maybe you got so caught up in that issue you missed the point so I'll give you another one, ever hear the phrase "people vote with their wallet?" Finding a voter who is thoroughly up to date on all the issues is an extremely difficult task to achieve. It's common for people to vote over selfish issues.

As far as why voting percentages are so low, that wanders in the realm of opinion. My personal view is the electoral college needs to go. If I live in a red state and it has been red for 100 years, but I want to vote blue, there's a good chance my vote isn't going to make a beans difference because the electoral college is going to give all my state's votes to the red. Get rid of the electoral college and you'll see massive voter turnout, but that's my opinion.

But all that's irrelevant, methodology is what is being questioned here. So voting online is easier, so what? Why should we disallow it because it's easy? It's technology, it's there to make our lives easier (supposed to, anyway). If I had to list every bit of technology that made our lives easier, I'd be here for decades compiling the list. But because it's about voting we can't have any of that, we have to keep it difficult. Nonsense. Methodology is what is being voted here, not motive.

If hurricane Sandy wiped out my home, I'd be much happier knowing I could take a few minutes to vote instead of standing in line for hours to manually do it. Sometimes there's more important things that need to get done instead of wasting hours standing in line.

35.Aeires (unregistered)

More informed voters is definitely a step in the right direction. I think as more time goes on, technology will help achieve that as people start to use other means than the mainstream media to get their information. It's more than just voting though, there are opportunities to use technology to be more aware of what is going on. One of my favorite apps is the Congress app on Android. Being able to see what is being voted on my Congress, and who voted for and against is a great tool. Love that app

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